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Rejected outright for Germany ETA today. Not gonna lie, very surprised by that news. But, hope you all have fun on yours next year (and hope I get off the alternate list for Austria), and thanks for being a wonderful group to freak out with while waiting

agggggggghhhhhhhhhh this worries me, I'm nervous now that I haven't heard back and it doesn't seem like there are any rejections up on our spreadsheet yet... hopefully it's just that the mail is slow. WANT TO KNOW!!

Full explanation above-- the Autrian program is technically Fulbright, but the application is different, so you can apply to it alongside another ETA (I applied to Germany).

Damis is right, it's a bizarre special thing. The Austria program is done through the Austrian government directly, and while you get to say that you've "got a Fulbright", it's done through a different timeline and a different process--the application wasn't due until Jan. 15th and there isn't a finalist status. Theirs is also directed very specifically at people who aim to be German teachers (which, since I don't, is why I'm not surprised I got alternate). So, you aren't restricted from applying to a different "true ETA" program (like I did for Germany). Kind of a nice thing.

Just woke up to an e-mail notifying me of my alternate status for the Austrian ETA... here's hoping for good news from Germany later on today...

Yay! Congrats! Still waiting over here... my dorm takes forever to sort mail, I'm just dying thinking that whatever envelope is coming for me is sitting in a pile in the mailroom somewhere right now...

Anyone hear from Germany ETA yet today? Nothing here, but I'm less than patient about the mail coming...

ANYONE hearing back from Germany ETA today, will you post with where you're located? Freaking out here in Chicago! Have been waiting so long to hear back and just want to know when to anticipate my letter...

Yep, still in the dark here too. E-mailed her a week or so ago to see if she knew, got the same stock response ("still waiting on official approval" etc) received by some other people on the forum. Hopefully it's this week, I'd really like to know what I'm doing next year... also, I think it would be hilarious to hear back from the Austrian program before the German, traditionally it's looked like Austria has been behind Germany in notifications, but maybe not this time?

HOG, in the same boat here-- last year Germany ETAs heard back March 22nd, so should be any day now, and Austria was in the beginning of April. I e-mailed Cara Doble on Germany and she just said to "be patient"

Also, yay Washington! I'm originally from Spokane but have been going to school in Chicago.

Ugh, had my first GradCafe dream last night... someone posted a complicated phone number that we could use to check our decisions, and a bizarre person on the other end told me cryptically that I had gotten the ETA and also a merit scholarship (which doesn't make any sense). Anyway, when I realized it wasn't real and woke up, I was a VERY unhappy camper

Ughhhhh! I know, feeling your pain over here. The other day I flipped out because I had a package from the State Department and it was... my new passport. Oh, how the mail fools us.

I have a friend currently doing the ETA program in Austria whose extracurricular project basically amounted to improving his sight-singing, so, although this obviously just one person, it doesn't seem like the project has to be super formal or well thought out.

Agh! I know. Especially frustrating because my original e-mail asked if we could expect to receive an e-mail notification along with paper mail, which she didn't answer at all. So, now I'm stuck at home for Spring break grumbling about not knowing when decisions will happen and if it will just wind up waiting in my school mailbox for the rest of the week without me knowing what it says... very frustrating. Oh well, first world problems I guess

Just got this (form letter) back about Germany ETA: IIE/Fulbright does not have a timeline we can provide, as we are now waiting on several things: 1) country decisions 2) Fulbright Scholarship Board (FSB) approval on all recommended applications and 3) ECA (State Department) approvals on budgets. IIE/Fulbright cannot send out any notification information until we have all three of these in our office, and I am not able to predict when exactly this will happen. At this time, we truly appreciate your patience. So, not a whole lot to glean from that... looks like we've just got to keep waiting.

I just e-mailed Cara Doble to see if she could say when Germany ETA decisions would be sent out and whether we'll also receive an e-mail notification, so hopefully she'll get back to me soon. Looks like they were mainly received today (22nd) last year, but from the spreadsheet it doesn't look like anyone has heard yet, so perhaps it will be a bit later this year?

For ETAs, do you know if this additional approval would be necessary to advertise yourself as an English tutor/for other odd jobs to finance extra travel within Europe while on the grant? Seems like it could go either way from the description there.

Congrats Goodie! I'm hoping the ETA notifications aren't far behind...

Changed my name here as it was too obvious who I was for many people and I'd rather me semi-anonymous (used to be gracello)... THE WAITING IS KILLING ME! BUT, some good news for those of you worried about permanent address/current address interactions and Spring break: e-mailed my in-school adviser for Fulbright, who said that most students receive an e-mail followed by their hard copy letter. Has this been the case for those of you who've already heard?